“Good Lord, what have I got to do with it?”
“Why, darn it all, you'd ought to have put up a few huts with 'For Rent' signs on 'em, or else--”
“By George, Buck! I've got it,” cried Percival excitedly. “Have you thought of a wedding journey?”
“Well, we might walk up and down the main street here a coupla times,” said Buck sarcastically. “Or take a stroll along the beach or something like that.”
“What's the matter with a nice long sea voyage?”
“Say, I'm not kidding about this thing,” exclaimed Mr. Chizler, bristling. “I'm in dead earnest.”
“Has it occured to you that the Doraine is lying out there in the harbour--Here! Look out! I don't like being hugged by--”
“My gosh, A. A! Oh, my gosh!” barked the ecstatic bridegroom-apparent. “How did you happen to think of such a beautiful, wonderful--”
“How did I happen to think of it?” shouted Percival, just as ecstatically. “Why, darn your eyes, why shouldn't I think of it? Why did old Noah think of the Ark? Why, I ask you?”
“He didn't,” said Buck succinctly. “The feller that wrote the Bible thought of it.”
“What time is it? Oh, Lord, nearly three hours yet before school is out.”
“Say, are you off your base,--lemme smell your breath. You act like--Wait a second! There's something else I want to speak to you about. Is it--is it all right for me to get married? She says I'll have to get your O. K. before she'll move an inch. She says nobody can do anything around here without you say so. So I--”
“You tell her I give my consent gladly, Buck, my boy. Give her a good kiss for me, and say I'll speak to Captain Trigger this afternoon about passage on the Doraine. By George, I--I think I'll go and speak to him about it now.”
“Much obliged, boss. By gosh, you are a brick. There ain't anything you won't do for a friend, is there?”
Percival blushed and stammered. “I--I've got to see him anyhow, Buck,--so don't thank me. By the way, while I'm about it, I suppose I might as well speak to Parson Mackenzie, eh? Or is it to be Father Francisco? And that reminds me, I'll have to see Malone and find out about the legality,--got to have the law on our side, you see, Buck. Something in the form of a license,--United States of America and all that,--and also see about fixing up desirable quarters on board the Doraine. I may have to transfer quite a lot of--er--furniture and so forth from my hut to the ship, and--”
